Well pump



H. H. HIBBARD.

WELL PUMP. APPLICATION FILED Ams. I92I.

Patented June 27, 1922.

r'inr orricn.

HOWARD H. HIBBARD, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA., ASSIGNOR TO -IIIBB ARDPETROLEUM COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALFORNIA, 'A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

WELL PUMP.

inzneoa.

Application filed April 9,

use in wells, or the like, where it is necessary to pump liquid carryingmore or less solid material such, for instance, as sand or `earthymatter. An object of the invention is to provide a simple inexpensiveapparatus which will effectively handle liquid heavily laden withforeign material, and which. is

sturdy and durable.

For the purpose 'of clearly land accurately setting forth the inventionit is herein doscribed as applied to, and is herein shown in a formparticularly 'applicable to, oil wells. An oil well is a good example ofan instance where the fluid to be pumped is more or less laden withsolid material such as sand or earthy matter. In fact, it frequentlyoccurs in pumping an oil wellthat the oil or water, as the case may be,is so heavily laden with solid material that a pump will not handle itor will wear so rapidly that it must be replaced after only a few `hoursoperation. The greatest difiiculty experienced in cases such -as theseare the wearing of working parts, such as the plunger and work barrel,due to the presence of solid material, and the clogging-'of valves andpassageways, par ticularly the shoe which carries the standing valve,with solid material. Heretofore attempts have been made to overcomethese difficulties, particularly the first mentioned one, by variousarrangements of the parts and by various arrangements and forms ofpacking, etc.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the difficultiesabove outlined and other similar difficulties and thereby provide a pumpwhich is effective and dependable and which is durable. By providing apump which is dependable and which will not clog or fill up with solidmaterial, as an ordinary pump will, a great saving in time `and labor iseffected over an ordinary pumping apparatus. In providing a pump whichwill handle liquid laden with solid material without excessive wearingof its parts, time ySpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2?, 1922.

1921. 'Seriai No. 459,955..

and labor, as well as expense, are saved over the use of ordinaryapparatus.

An important feature of the present invention is its simplicity. Theinvention -may be embodied in practically any ordinary or conventionalpump construction and arrangement without adding any complicated ordelicate working parts thereto and without materially increasing theAsize or bulk of that apparatus to make it clumsy or diflicult tohandle. The various objects and ,features `of 'the invention, includingthose herein particularly pointed 'out and othersof note and importancewill be best and more fully understood from the following detaildescription 'of a typical embodiment olf the invention, vthroughoutwhich reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in 'which Fig. l isan exterior 'view of the pump provided by the present invention; Fig. 9.is van enlarged detail vertical sectional view of the pump showni'n Fig.l; Fig. 3 isan Aenlarged detail vertical sectional view of a pumpprovided by the present invention showing the manner in which it isadapted to be arranged in a rwell casing; and Fig. 4 is an enlargedtransverse sectional view taken as indicated by line 4 4 on Fig. '2.

rlhroughout the drawings numeral 10 designatesy a well casing andnumeral 11 Vthe pump provided by 'the lpresent invention which isadapted to be arranged in the well casing at or in the liquid thereinand is adapted to be operated to pump liquid therefrom. For thepurposeof this disclosure .l am illustrating a pump construction andarrangement which is' extremely simple yand which is intended merely tot'ypify the general character of apparatus to which the presentinvention relates. It is therefore to be understood that the presentinvention is in no way specically limited or restricted to embodiment'in a structure or arrangement of the particular character herein setforth but that it may be embodied in 'practically -any structure orarrangement of the general character herein set forth.

` In the particular arrangement and construction shown in the drawings apump .tubing 12 extends downwardly into the weil casing l() to thevicinity of the liquids standing in the well casing. The pump or workingbarrel 13 is connected to the lower end of the pump tubing 12 by asuitable coupling 14 and a comparatively short section of tubing 15,preferably slightly larger than the work barrel 13, as will behereinafter described, is connected to the lower end of the work barrel13 by a suitable coupling 16. The tubing 15 may be said to form the pumpchamber. A hollow plunger 17 is carried in the work barrel 13, beingmounted on the lower end of the suckerrod 19 which extends downwardlythrough a suitable stutling box 20, mounted at the upper end of the pumptubing 12, through the pump tubing 12, and through a suitable stuiiingbox 21 at the coupling 14, and into the working barrel 13. An inlet orstanding valve 23 is car'ried by a shoe 24 mounted on the lower end ofthe tube 15 and an outlet or working valve 26 is arranged in the cage 27which connects the sucker rod 19 and plunger 17. `When the sucker rod 19is reciprocated vertically in the manner common to pumping apparatus ofthis general character, liquid is drawn into the tube 15 and the plunger17 through the shoe 24 and standing valve 23 upon upward movement of thesucker rod and plunger, and is forced upwardly through the sucker rod 19and out of the well past the working valve 26 upon downward movement ofthe sucker rod and plunger 19. This tion is that which is common topumps of thisn general character and needs no further or detailedexplanation.

The apparatus thus far described will operate effectively and will notwear excessively if the liquid in the well casing is clear orpractically free of sand or other solid matter. However, if the liquidin the well, or in the casing 10, has sand in it, and even though it hasonly a comparatively small amount of sand in it, this sand will find itsway up around the plunger and between the plunger and the working barrelto cause excessive wear between the plunger and working barrel and toultimately make it necessary to completely replace these parts of thepump. lVhen there is a considerable amount of sand in the liquid in thecasing 10 or when slugs of sand are dragged into the presence of theshoe 24, the shoe 24, the standing valve 23, and even other parts of thepump will become completely clogged so that the pump will not operate.The actions just referred to are not at all out of the ordinary oractions which occur only in rare instances but are such as areexperienced every day in practically every oil field.

In accordance with the present invention a fluid, and preferably aliquid such as oil or water, is filled into the space A formed .betweenthe'pump tubing 12`and sucker rod 19. A small pipe 30 having an insidediameterof about seven-sixteenths of an inch, is connected in to thepump tubing 12, preferably into the extreme lower end portion of thepump tubing 12, and extends downwardly past the working barrel 15 andconnects into the tube 15, preferably into the extreme upper end portionof the tube 15. l prefer to provide a check valve 31 in the pipe 30 sothat fluid can only pass downwardly through the pipe 30 as indicated bythe arrows throughout the drawings. In practice the couplings 14 and 16are notched at 33 and the pipe 30 is arranged in these notches so thatit will be as close as possible against the other parts of the pump andwill thus make the pump as compact as possible. lilith the arrangementjust described it will be obvious how the fluid in space A will flowdownwardly through the pipe 30, past the check valve 31, and into thetube 15. In the preferred form of the invention the various parts are soproportioned and the plunger 17 is reciprocated so that its lower endportion extends downwardly into the tube 15 to the vicinity of thestanding valve 23 when the sucker rod is at the lower end of its strokeand so that the lower end of the plunger 17 is above the point where thepipe 30 vconnects to the tube 15 when the sucker rod 19 is at the upperend of its stroke. The plunger is shown in the first mentioned positionin Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. The tube 15 being slightly larger thanthe working barrel 15, as hereinbefore stated, causes the plunger towork freely in the tube 15 and forms a space B between the plunger 17and tube 15. In practice it has been found that a space of aboutonesixteenth of an inch between the plunger 17 and the tubing 15 givesgood results. As the plunger 19 starts from the position shown in thedrawings and moves upwardly in the working barrel and tubing 15, Huidfrom the space A passes downwardly through the pipe 30 past the checkvalve 31 into the space B around the plunger. The fluid enters the topportion of the tube 15, the pipe 30 being connected into the top portionof the tube 15` passes or circulates completely around the plunger 17and washes downwardly around the plunger 17 into the tube 15 below thelower end of the plunger where it unites with the liquid that has justentered the tube 15 to more or less dilute it and to keep it in constantagitation or circulation. space A around the plunger 17 and downwardlyaround the plunger 17 prevents the liquid entering the tube 15 fromwashing or circulating up around the plunger 17 to come into thepresence of the lower end of the working barrel. l/Vhen the plunger isat the upper end portion of its stroke the fluid from space A entersdirectly into the tube 15 without engaging or washing around the plunger17 thus agitating or circulating the liquid in the tube 15 so that itwill readily The washing of the fluid from enter the plunger 17 upondownward `1novelwill completely break them up and put their particlesinto suspension so that they will readily flow out of the pump and upthrough kthesucker rod. The fluid from space Amay be said to issue `orjet 'into the tube 15 at the mouth or open end of the plunger 17 whenthe plunger is at the upper end por- I tion of its stroke to wash awayor break up any accumulation of sand or solid material such as mighttend to clog the plunger. As the plunger 17 moves downwardly causing theliquid in the tube 15 to pass upwardly through the plunger 17 past theworking valve 26 and out through the sucker rod 19, fluid from space Ano longer enters the space B but the pressure caused by the downwardmovement of the plunger closes the check valve 31 and holds fluid fromspace A that was last to enter tube B at the upper end portion of thetube so that no sand carrying liquid will come into engagement with thepump barrel. However, if desired or if it is found necessary pressuremay be maintained on the fluid in space A in order that the pressure ofthe fluid being admitted into space B will at all times be greater thanthe pressure caused by the downward movement of the plunger or at leastequal to that pressure. In the drawings I show a head 40 on the pumptubing through which fluid may be supplied to the space A underpressure. The stuiiing box 21 at the coupling 14 prevents the fluid inspace A from passing down onto the top of the plunger 17.

Herein so far I have described the principles of my invention applied toone portion of the pump (to the interior thereof) to keep a certainpart, or parts, clean of solid material and to pre-vent choking orclogging of certain parts by solid material. In its broader aspect theinvention is not limited to any such specific embodiment or arrangementbut is applicable to any part of the apparatus where it is desirable tokeep a part clean of foreign solid material or to prevent accumulationor clogging. In Fig. 2 of the drawings I show the invention carriedsomewhat further than in Fig. 3 and show how it can be applied to partsof the apparatus other than those hereinabove specified. A pipe 42 isconnected into the pump tubing 12, in a manner similar to that in whichthe pipe 30 is connected into the pump tubing 12, and is arranged to eX-tend downwardly from the pump tubing 12 past the working barrel 13, pastthe coupling 16, past the tub-ing 16, to the shoe 24. In the particularcase being illustrated the pipe 30 is comparatively small having aninside diameter of about one-siXteenth of an inch and is thereforeconveniently held in piace by beingarraznged through bores 46 and'47"`inthe couplings 14 and 16, respectively. The lower end ofthe pipe 42connects into an opening 47 which extends downwardly -in the shoe 24.The lower of the opening 47 ycommunicates 'with fan ropening '48 whichopens inwardly into the shoe 24 'substantially' as shown in Fig. 2.

AIn the particular apparatus 'shownin 'the drawings the opening 47 isabout oneesixteenth kof an inch in diameter and the opening 48 'is aboutone-thirty-second of an inch in diameter. With this arrangement 'when`the-fluid 'in space A is under pressure, or has a head, substantiallyas above described a continuous jet issues from the opening 48 into theshoe 24 to violently stir or agitate the liquid passing through the shoeand to break up any bodies of solid material, such as bodies of sand,which accumulate or are brought to the lower end of the shoe or tends toform at the shoe. In practice it has been found that the jet whichissues from the opening 48 so completely agitates and stirs the liquidentering the pump that solid material, such as sand, which are carriedin it remain well in suspension as up through the pump. Further it hasbeen found that the jet issuing from the opening 48 posi tively preventsclogging or accumulation of sand in the shoe and breaks up any shelvesof sand such as are occasionally forced against the shoe by gas orwater. The pipe 42 being very small, as hereinbefore specilied, does notpass enough fluid to interfere at all with the amount of liquid pumpedlfrom the casing 10.

The above description deals entirely with the action when there is fluidin space A to be supplied to pipes 30 and 42. When it is not necessaryor desirable to allow fluid from space A to jet into the tube 15 aroundthe plunger or to jet into the shoe 24 from the opening 48 the supply tothe space A can be cut off whereupon the space A will soon becomepractically empty. This will not interfere in any way with the action ofthe pump as far as pumping liquid from casing 10 is concerned as thecheck valve 31 in pipe 30 will positively prevent pumping of liquidupwardly through the pipe into the space A and the opening 42 beingbelow the standing valve 23 prevents any fluid whatever from beingpumped or passed through it.

Having described only a preferred form of my invention I do not wish tolimit myself to the particular details hereinabove set forth but wish toreserve to myself any changes or variations that may appear to thoseskilled in the art and that may fall within the scope of the followingclaim.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

In combination, a tube adapted to extend linto a well, a barrel Carriedat the lower end of the tube, a pump ehamberconneoted `with the lowerend of the barrel, a hollowr rod extending into the tube, a, plungeroonneoted to the lower end of said rod and slid- `:ably carried inthebarrel so that itslower parts yextends into the pump Chamber withworking clearance, valve means whereby reeiproeatlon of the plungercauses pumping -offluid rom'the well through the pump chamber and upthrough the rod, and a uid :conduit connected with the tube above thebarrel to receive fluid therefrom and ex- *tending` to and opening intothe space be-

